‘Avengers: Infinity War’ Lands The Biggest Global Opening Ever

“Spider-Man: Homecoming” was a soaring success. “Thor: Ragnarok” opened even bigger. Then “Black Panther” crushed both of them.

But none of those Marvel movies could compare to the franchise’s shiniest jewel, “Avengers: Infinity War,” which rampaged through the weekend with $630 million worldwide — easily the biggest global opening of all time.

Expectations were high for “Infinity War,” the first installment of a two-part finale, which will wrap up a whopping 20-film Disney franchise. The movie features a litany of brand-name stars — Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Chris Pratt and dozens more — as the heroes assemble to take down Thanos (Josh Brolin), the series’ biggest baddie yet. Disney poured in around $300 million to make the movie and another $150 million or so to market it, sending the extensive cast around the world and to nearly every talk show.

The investments paid off. The $630 million global opening for “Infinity War” crushed the previous record-holder, “The Fate of the Furious,” which arrived last year to a now seemingly pedestrian $542 million. Incredibly, “Infinity War” sprinted to first place without the enormous markets of China or Russia, where it will open in the next two weeks. Domestically, the film put up a cool $250 million and was celebrated in Hollywood as the biggest opening ever. When adjusted for inflation, though, “Infinity War” lags slightly behind “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” which arrived in 2015 to about $261 million in today’s dollars.

Disney now holds nine of the top 10 domestic openings of all time — six of which are part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “The result is a reflection of 10 years of work: of developing this universe, creating stakes as big as they were, characters that matter and stories and worlds that people have come to love,” Dave Hollis, Disney’s president of distribution, said in a phone interview.

“Avengers: Infinity War” will next set its sights on records like the fastest film to reach $1 billion and the highest gross ever. The film’s endurance should be lifted by mostly positive reviews from critics, as well as an A from audiences in CinemaScore exit polls. And it’s highly likely that superfans will boost the gross by returning to theaters multiple times.

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Avengers 4 Directors Say Secret Title Speaks To The Heart Of The Story

Infinity War has barely been in theaters for a whole weekend and Marvel Cinematic Universe devotees are already speculating about the still untitled Avengers 4. In actuality, it does have a title, but the Russo Brothers and Marvel Studios are keeping it a secret for the time being as to not spoil anything about Infinity War. However, in a new interview, the directors offered up the first hint for the official title for Avengers 4 and it has a lot of fans thinking about the future.

While the Russo Brothers aren’t revealing the official title of Avengers 4 at the moment (the directors have said that it will be a while), the duo gave some insight into the title. Apparently, the title came into their consciousness early on in the production phase. That being said, it still took them a while to name the movie, coming up with a ton of titles before choosing the winner. Anthony Russo explains.

“We do have a name for it, we’re just not announcing it. And I think we came to that name fairly early in the development process. It speaks to the heart of the story.”

The title of Avengers 4 is a hot topic at the moment and everybody seems to have their own theories about it. While the Russo Brothers didn’t give away much information about the title, it seems that it will more than likely have to do with the surviving Avengers and their core. After the events of Infinity War, the title is really anyone’s guess at the moment. Though, Kevin Feige believes that keeping the title a secret may have done more bad than good, creating intense waves of speculation.

One of the larger theories that has been floated is that Avengers 4 will be titled “Endgame.” The title works on a few different levels and was even uttered by Doctor Strange in Infinity War. Additionally, it’s the end phase 3 of the MCU. But, the title could be a little too easy for the Russo Brothers who took fans on a sprawling journey, full of surprises. Additionally, the name doesn’t really spoil anything for Infinity War, but it could very well point to the “heart” of the story.

Another rumor that has been floating around is that Avengers 4 will be titled “Avengers Forever,” which also doesn’t sound like a spoiler for Infinity War either. In the end, we’re just going to have to wait and see what the Russo Brothers decided to name the last movie of Phase 3. Now we all just need to figure out how to make the next year go by really quickly so that we can see the fate of the Avengers and the rest of the crew. You can read the rest of the interview with the Russo Brothers about the title of Avengers 4 over at Bustle.

Fans were worried following Valkyrie’s absence in Avengers: Infinity War.

She was last seen accompanying Thor and his rag-tag band of Asgardian refugees aboard a spaceship at the end of Thor: Ragnarok. However, she was nowhere to be seen when we saw the wreckage of said ship at the beginning of Infinity War, nor did Thor mention her fate (although to be fair, he already had a lot on, what with stopping Thanos and whatnot).

Tessa Thompson, the actress who plays Valkyrie, decided to put her fans’ minds at rest with a tweet explaining her role in the movie.

Okay, maybe not. For context, Tessa Thompson as a goat is already a thing.